Article December 28, 1929 Issue

Item of Interest

Occasionally it is erroneously maintained that the reading of Scriptural selections in our services would be smoother were the First Reader, prior to reading the text, to announce the names of all the books of the Bible from which the citations are taken. The Field will be interested to know, however, that a former First Reader in The Mother Church consulted Mrs. Eddy as to this very proposal, and that our Leader replied promptly that the name of the author, or of the book from which the citation is taken, must be read in connection with the respective citations. In other words, it was our Leader's desire that a statement made by Moses should be clearly distinguished from one made by Isaiah. For the same reason she indicated that the source of each Scriptural selection in the Lesson-Sermon should be announced prior to reading it.

It is likewise the rule that the "scientific statement of being" from our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy (p. 468), and the correlative Scriptural passage from I John 3:1-3, read at the close of the Sunday services, should be announced separately. Thus "the scientific statement of being" should be first announced and then read, followed by the announcement of the correlative Scripture according to I John and the reading of the verses Mrs. Eddy indicated in Chapter 3.

When considering the reading of the selections from I John, it may be helpful to remember that the pronouns "him" and "he" in the third verse in the original Greek refer to God, or to God coming through the Christ, as some interpreters have stated it. Therefore, these pronouns should be emphasized correctly, so as to bring out the true meaning, which is not man, but God or Christ.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Item of Interest

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access